Horsepower wars and "how much is too much"?

[Upacurb]

@Upacurb
I leave traction control on, at low and mid level throttle input they hold perfectly fine, if I’m on the freeway and go WOT, say 60 or 70 they’ll spin, but the car pulls real hard, it will get squirrely up to 100 ish

I barely ever do that, when I put the slicks on it just flat out hooks, if they spin at all the recovery is nearly instant.

my old fox body was the same, but the solid axle would kick out, get a lil sideways at 100, I’m just getting too old to be wild like that.

Nice ....sounds better then the one I drove lol

They closed down all the drag strips with a few 100 miles of me a long time ago and with two teenage daughters i just have other stuff going on... I dont have time to make weekends out of it ...

For a pure street car that will never see the track I think my car is about right

I had a 347/novi2000 fox body back in the day ... on the street was a handful.....im with you on the too old comment for sure lol

In fact fun fact... I bought my car from Paxton directly so my car was on the NOVI2000 instruction manual lol

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[Racer57]

I have a 1970 Plymouth Cuda 335hp with pistol grip shifter. Old school with muscle car power. Really fun to drive.

Also a 2025 Shelby 810 hp. Computerized fun.

 

[mthx]

Power with agility — that's the sweet spot for me.

I don't think we need 1,000, 1,500 or 2,400 hp cars. Of course, it always depends on weight.

Give me 500–550 hp in a well-balanced 3,600 lb car, with great steering, brakes and chassis, and I'm happy. That's already a seriously fast and fun street car.

The problem is that modern cars have become so damn heavy with all the comfort, technology and goodies that we keep adding horsepower just to compensate for the weight.

And let's be real: how often do we actually do a 0–60 launch in everyday life? Almost never.

But there is one problem...

The ego-destroying 60–120 mph pull.

You're enjoying your perfectly balanced, lightweight, 500 hp sports car on a nice open road...

Then some guy in a Civic pulls beside you.

PSSSHHHHHT.

He's running 750 hp.

Three seconds later you're staring at his taillights thinking:

"Yeah... but mine is better in the corners."

And THAT is probably why the horsepower war will never end.

 

[Upacurb]

Power with agility — that's the sweet spot for me.

I don't think we need 1,000, 1,500 or 2,400 hp cars. Of course, it always depends on weight.

Give me 500–550 hp in a well-balanced 3,600 lb car, with great steering, brakes and chassis, and I'm happy. That's already a seriously fast and fun street car.

The problem is that modern cars have become so damn heavy with all the comfort, technology and goodies that we keep adding horsepower just to compensate for the weight.

And let's be real: how often do we actually do a 0–60 launch in everyday life? Almost never.

But there is one problem...

The ego-destroying 60–120 mph pull.

You're enjoying your perfectly balanced, lightweight, 500 hp sports car on a nice open road...

Then some guy in a Civic pulls beside you.

PSSSHHHHHT.

He's running 750 hp.

Three seconds later you're staring at his taillights thinking:

"Yeah... but mine is better in the corners."

And THAT is probably why the horsepower war will never end.

Or the 6 billion Tesla Plaids around here in Southern CA lol

Back in the 90s you had to work at it to have a fast car- you had to know cars
Now you have housewifes driving around 9 second Tesla Plaids - any yahoo with a good job can buy an 800hp Mustang......or an 800hp Hell Cat - or hell even a Hyundai EV thing (not saying everyone who buys one is a yahoo but there are definitely people around here who barely know anything about cars but get into some kind of midlife crisis)

I think speed is so obtainable now its almost boring - it doesnt interest me anymore
I dont want to spend time blood tears to build a 9 second car just to get beat by a mom in a Plaid that drives it through the gas station car washes with some stupid personalized plate about being an EV or not using gas

Unless your going to build a 1200-1400hp car- but at that point its so not useable on the streets who cares....

So crazy how 20 years ago- adjusting for inflation if you told me I could buy a 9 second car used for 55-60K in todays dollars- I wouldnt have cared if it was EV gas or powered by peanut butter - but now no interest

 

[RYTBER]

Back in 2018 I had a wide body hellcat challenger. Ordered it and waited and actually was able to get it with a manual transmission.
Coolest car I ever had the good fortune to own. But I did come to learn that HP was completely overkill. So much so that it became a detraction from the car. I had 315 tires all around and there was simply no way I could jump on the car and not set it out of control.
I remember watching a great video on YouTube. It was a guy who owned both a hellcat and a scat pack. He was saying that the hellcat was great for the track and that the scat pack was such a better car to drive daily. His point being that the car was looking to get out of control at every opportunity.
That was when I learned that insane hp may be ridiculous.
If your tire setup (like drag radials) isn’t right, or you don’t have anywhere to drive it, it can actually become a liability.
That car was the only one I ever drove that I was afraid to “jump on it” because going out of control was a virtual guarantee.
Again however I say “it simply was the most amazing car I’ve ever owned”

 

[Zig]

Hhhhmmmm???? A companion question/conundrum is how little driver skill is too little?

I have a family member who spun their rust bucket 1974 Nova out; while turning left
at a corner in the rain.

Forum: So, how'd that end, Wiley?

Wiley: Did you know rust bucket Novas don't climb utility poles worth a $hit?

Minor bumps and bruises; no serious injury. Family members explanation for their profound lack of skill and judgement? It was because of those $hitty tires (which; oddly, were the ONLY new things on the rust bucket).

Probably a good thing my ex spurt driver family member wasn't driving one of those 1400 HP cars @Q6543 was telling us about.

Nannie, is that you?

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